Chapter 9
Emblem Engage
As Ravus and his forces approached Garreg Mach, Diamant gazed up at the sky, uneasy. "What's biting you, dawg?", Sonic asked. "I don't know really. I just have this inherent feeling of dread in my mind, like something cataclysmic is about to happen. It's like something really bad will happen and we can't do anything to stop it.", Diamant replied. "It's OK, though. We have the Emblem Rings- well, all the rings aside from the Ring of the Paladin, the Ring of the Instructor and the Ring of the Dawn Maiden. And I have a feeling that they'll return to proper functionality very soon.", Sonic said. "I hope you're right.", Diamant said.
Aboard the Imperial Flagship, Ravus approached a mechanical swordsman. "How ready are the Living Weapons?", Ravus asked. "They've just finished stabilising and waking up, milord.", the swordsman replied. "Good. Very good indeed.", Ravus said. Walking over to the mech hangar, Ravus spied a collection of giant dark red and black mechas, several armed with giant swords, axes and lances and others armed with equally gigantic cannons, the mechs filling up with a dark red energy. "Thanks to Moebius sharing Ferronis technology with us, we've been able to daemonise it with the Starscourge and create extraordinarily powerful weapons capable of destroying most of our opposition, even Demonic Beasts created by those who slither in the dark. So why do I feel that something out of our control will happen to them?", Ravus said to himself.
Entering a hidden chamber in the monastery, Sigurd gazed upon a collection of 9 rings- one of them in particular bearing a silvery sheen and having a silver gem in the middle and another having a golden sheen and bearing a sapphire in the middle. Yet another was composed of pure gold itself. The rings themselves were glowing with a resonant white and golden glow, the glow itself being a nice and calming light. Leaving the chamber, Sigurd gazed upon the gathering fleet of mechanical airships, a feeling of dread running down his spine.
Looking at the monastery, Terumi said, "Well, Ravus? I'm ready to go when you are.". Sighing, Ravus said, "Well then, no need to wait to invade.". Turning to the gathered army of mechanical swordsmen and riflemen, Ravus declared, "Soldiers of the Niflheim Empire! The time has come for us to acquire the Chaos Emeralds and escape Cyber Space! We shall never surrender or retreat and we will not stop until the white, yellow, cyan and purple Chaos Emeralds are all ours! Failure is no option! We shall acquire the Emeralds and ascend!". "HOO-RAH!", the soldiers responded. The airships opened, ready for the battle.
Gathered outside the monastery, Garreg Mach's defenders steeled themselves for the brutal onslaught. Dimitri in particular gripped his lance whilst Alphen grabbed his sword. Still carefree as ever, Claude smirked as he aimed his bow at the airship. As several red and white lights exited the airships, Edelgard steeled her gaze. Looking around nervously, Sigurd then got on a majestic white stallion as he drew a mighty javelin. A black and crimson beam then shot forward from the airship, signalling the troops to attack. Holding his lance high, Sigurd bellowed, "Now!". The heroes then charged, ready to fight the invading soldiers.
As the two armies met, Terumi was the first to attack, sending out a black and dark green energy chain which Lanz expertly defended against, opening up Terumi to Robin launching a beam of yellow electricity. Terumi nonchalantly dodged the lightning, only for Clive to follow him into the air, slashing at him with his sword. Terumi blocked and countered with his two knives, with Clive responding to this by launching a series of rapid jabs formed from earthen energy. Meanwhile, Alphen and Lloyd crossed blades with Metal Sonic, with Alphen in particular drawing his flaming sword and unleashing a fiery wave of energy which Metal just managed to block with a sphere of electrical energy. Eunie followed up by firing a blast of pale blue energy from her rod which Metal just managed to dodge. Undeterred, Hanabi leapt in with a fiery burst of energy from her staff, wailing on Metal Sonic and seriously damaging his metal body. Seeing an opening, Terumi unleashed another dark green energy chain only for Sena to interrupt him with a hammer strike to the head. Angered, Terumi then found himself accosted by Taion's origami birds. Noire took this as an opportunity to run Terumi through with her rapier. "Shit, fuck, damn!", Terumi muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, Byleth and Rhea entered the monastery's Ring Vault, entranced by the warm golden glow of the Emblem Rings within. Out of the light came the image of a muscular man with short blue spiky hair and a green headband wearing dark blue armour and a brown vest and a young man with short orange hair wearing dark blue armour and a blue and orange cape. "Is it time for us to be summoned now?", the blue-haired man asked. "No, not yet. Well, you will be able to cross over into Cyber Space soon.", Rhea replied. Walking into the Ring Vault, Naomi said, "Your Majesties, I believe it is time to Engage them now.".
Steamrolling through the troops, Alfred unleashed a brutal onslaught on Terumi, not only stabbing him with his spear but also dragging him on the pavement, only stopping when Alfred pushed Terumi into one of the mechanical swordsmen. Diamant followed up by dragging his sword forward before performing a brutal slice. "Fuck you all. Fuck you all to death!", Terumi shot out, coughing through his own blood. Angered beyond belief, Terumi unleashed a sinister black and dark green aura which Kisara blocked with her tower shield. Terumi then formed a black and dark green spear from his anger, thrusting the vile energy forward in a desperate gambit to kill the heroes. And trust me, it might have actually succeeded…if not for a pillar of golden energy crashing down much to Sigurd and Micaiah's shock and dispelling the black and dark green energy. "So they're finally here, huh?", Micaiah asked. Out of the golden energy came a collection of 9 heroes- a muscular man with spiky blue hair and blue eyes wearing dark blue armour and a brown vest; a man with orange hair and brown eyes wearing dark blue armour and a blue and orange cape; a young man with sky blue hair and blue eyes wearing a sky blue tunic and a bluish-purple cape; a woman with reddish-orange hair and red eyes wearing a white and golden dress and a white crown; a woman with long green hair and green eyes wearing a cyan dress; a woman with cyan hair and cyan eyes wearing a red and yellow dress with a cream cape; a young man with brown hair and brown eyes wearing white and golden armour with a red cape; a woman with dark blue hair and blue eyes wearing bluish-black armour with a red cape as well; and a barefooted woman with long white hair and red eyes wearing silver and grey armour with a dark blue cape. "Dayum.", Neptune said, impressed.
Looking at the 9 new arrivals, Terumi shouted, "No, no, NO! GOD NO!". "And you are-?", Alphen asked. "Oh, where are our manners? I am Marth.", the young man with sky blue hair said. "I'm Ike.", the man with spiky blue hair said. "My name is Roy.", the man with orange hair said. "I am Anthiese Lima, but you can call me Celica.", the woman with reddish-orange hair said. "My name is Lyn.", the green-haired woman said. "I am Eirika.", the cyan-haired woman said. "I am Leif.", the brown-haired man said. "I am Lucina.", the dark blue-haired woman said. "And my name is Corrin.", the white-haired woman said. "Wait, wait, wait. You mean, like, the Emblems?", Blanc asked. "Emblems?", Leif asked, . "Heroes from other worlds that can only be summoned through special Emblem Rings, as per what Alfred, Diamant and Timerra told us.", Revali explained. "And where are we now?", Ike asked. "Garreg Mach Monastery and its accompanying castle town in the Kingdom of Fodlan.", Yumi replied. Taking the opportunity to attack like a badass mudder, Terumi pounced on the heroes, ready to attack; at this, Ike easily blocked the attack.
Meanwhile, Ragna, Jin, Noel, Rachel and Velvet arrived at Garreg Mach. Noticing them, Veyle rushed forward to greet them. "Oh great! You've arrived! So have the other Emblems.", she exclaimed excitedly. "By the way, you know where the green Chaos Emerald is?", Jin asked. "What's a Chaos Emerald? Is it something you eat?", Veyle asked, . "No, they're seven gems that, when brought together, give people unlimited power.", Velvet said. "By the way, why aren't you on the battlefield fighting the Empire?", Rachel asked. "Oh, King Byleth and Queen Rhea needed me for something involving the twelve Emblems and the 9 Emblem Rings inside the Ring Vault; something about summoning them into something called Cyber Space.", Veyle explained. "Oh, is that so?", Noel asked. All of a sudden, Terumi warped into the monastery, heavily injured and laughing. Scared, Veyle rushed behind Ragna's back to hide, whimpering. "I see you there, traitor. Think you can run away from your daddy and expect him to not label you a defect?", Terumi asked Veyle, smiling cruelly. "More to the point, why are you here?", Noel asked. "Why, I wanted to go to Fodlan for a bit, terrorise the population, scare a few children- why the fuck do you think I'm here?!", Terumi replied. "And what's this about calling this young girl a defect?", Velvet asked, indicating Veyle. "Oh, you know how it is, children betraying their parents and expecting to receive leniency for it when they don't deserve it.", Terumi said. "Because to me it seems like she's scared of you, the poor thing.", Velvet snapped back. "Oh, you haven't heard how she betrayed her daddy and the Kingdom of Gradlon by daring to show emotions?", Terumi asked. Veyle was panicking and hyperventilating now; indeed it would seem like she was dangerously close to a mental breakdown.
Racing back to the monastery, Sigurd trampled through various mechanical riflemen whilst Yumi unleashed a devastating blizzard. Roy followed up by unleashing a blazing onslaught whilst Sumia flew overhead and skewered various flying Imperial soldiers with her lance before shoving them into an Imperial dropship causing it to explode. "Dayum.", Neptune said, impressed. Noticing a dark figure in the castle town entrance to the monastery, Ike lunged forward, unleashing a surge of blue fire from his radiant golden greatsword. Turning to face the incoming blue inferno, the figure nonchalantly tanked the fire like a boss before throwing off its dark blue and crimson cloak to reveal Toby's shining white and cyan armour and his long and messy flaxen hair and purple eyes. "Sir Toby? What are you doing here?", Vaike asked, . "I heard reports that King Byleth and Queen Rhea were about to commit an eternal sin and let loose an ancient curse in the form of that ingrate who fought the Archangels when they arrived at Peterborough and I'm here to stop them.", Toby explained with a smug shit eating grin on his face. "If that's so, then maybe we can work together and destroy the coordinates to where Jack is resting and stop anyone who tries to locate him the old-fashioned way.", Knuckles proposed. "What's in it for you, anyway?", Morgana asked, curious as a cat (sorry not sorry).
Overhearing the conversation, a look of absolute dread came over Veyle's face. "No. I need to find Jack and set him free.", Veyle said to herself, now resolute. Escaping through a black and dark purple portal, Veyle found herself in Ardyn's office. "Lady Veyle, what's got you so terrified?", Ardyn asked. "Ardyn, the heroes are planning to stop people from finding Jack and preventing us from stopping YHVH from creating a world with no free will. We need to find Jack so he can act as the key and help us stop YHVH.", Veyle said, crying. Moving over to the young Fell Dragon, Ardyn tenderly embraced her, allowing her to cry into his arms. "There, there.", he said.
As the battle for Garreg Mach was happening, Lysithea came across a beeping cellphone. Not knowing how to operate it (which made sense due to her coming from a mediaeval fantasy world), she handed to the phone over to Dr. Eggman, explaining, "Doc, I came across this beeping doodah; I don't know why it's beeping but I would like know why.". "But of course, Lady Lysithea.", Eggman responded, taking the phone from her and examining the message carefully. As he opened the phone and gingerly opened the app that was causing the beeping in the first place, a look of horror came about his face. "That's not possible.", he said. "What do you mean? What isn't possible?", Lysithea asked. "Uh, well, let's just say we might be able to find the key even sooner than we think. Anyway, thanks, Lady Lysithea. You did very well bringing this to me.", Eggman replied. "What is that thing anyway?", Lysithea asked. "It is what the people of one world call a 'cellphone'.", Ravus replied, strolling into the room.
Back at Garreg Mach, Sigurd speared Terumi in the chest, making sure to thrust the spear he was holding nice and slow so Terumi would suffer. "Oh yes! Hurt me more, hurt me more!", Terumi said, elated at the pain he was feeling. "Never again will you be able to terrorise any of the Kingdom of Fodlan's children!", Sigurd declared. Lucina watched on, concerned for her grandfather's psychological stability. "Grandfather, I believe he's getting the memo now, as they say.", she said. "She's right, Father.", Marth chimed in. "Oh, let him suffer.", Eirika said with a smile on her face. "Wow, Princess Eirika. You too?", Lapis asked. "Heh. Torture me all you want, you won't be able to prevent it from occurring.", Terumi said. "What are you talking about?", Ryoma asked. "Oh, the return of the key.", Terumi replied. "What do you mean, the key?", Dohalim asked, . "Oh, you know. The key.", Terumi replied. "Stop being so cryptic already! What do you mean by the key?", Shadow asked, angry. "Not a what, a who.", Terumi said, now coughing up blood. Realising who Terumi was referring to, a look of horror entered Cloud's face. "Wait, you don't mean him, do you?", Cloud asked. "Exactamundo.", Terumi replied. Forcibly jerking himself up, Terumi then forcefully threw the spear in his chest to the ground. "Not that this hasn't been fun and all, but I really need to get back now. Hopefully I've managed to buy enough time for the key to come back to us now.", he said, leaving through another black and dark purple portal.
Entering the now empty Ring Vault, Edelgard felt a terrible earthquake. "Oh no.", she said to herself.
The story continues in the next chapter.
